{"id":178657,"date":"2025-07-18T06:57:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T06:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/178657\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T06:57:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T06:57:19","slug":"he-should-just-acknowledge-kobe-phil-jackson-didnt-like-how-shaq-ignored-kobe-during-their-heat-vs-lakers-matchups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/178657\/","title":{"rendered":"“He should just acknowledge Kobe” – Phil Jackson didn’t like how Shaq ignored Kobe during their Heat vs. Lakers matchups"},"content":{"rendered":"

“He should just acknowledge Kobe” – Phil Jackson didn’t like how Shaq ignored Kobe during their Heat vs. Lakers matchups<\/a> originally appeared on Basketball Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the end of the Kobe Bryant<\/a> and Shaquille O’Neal<\/a> era in Tinseltown, the next best thing was their future matches against each other. Fans giddily looked forward to games between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat.<\/p>\n

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Deep inside, they wanted the two basketball titans to throw hands at center court before tip-off. Lo and behold, whenever the Lakers<\/a> and Heat<\/a> met, the two superstars treated each other like ordinary rivals, as if they had never once wreaked havoc on the NBA for years.<\/p>\n

The Zen Master disapproves<\/p>\n

Phil Jackson<\/a>, the legendary coach who harnessed the potential of the two, was disappointed. More so at Shaq for intentionally ignoring Kobe. Jackson, who left the Lakers after the 2003-04 season, wanted O’Neal to get over himself and mend his relationship with Kobe.<\/p>\n

“He’s such an emotional guy,” Jackson said<\/a> of O’Neal, via the Los Angeles Times. “It’s just not the forum for him to deal with it. He should just acknowledge Kobe.”<\/p>\n

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“There’s plenty of time in their lifetimes for them to hopefully make up the distance that’s between them and the process that will happen. Until Shaq’s ready, my words aren’t going to force him alone. I don’t enjoy seeing that in his actions, but I understand his reasons.”<\/p>\n

Not a story<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Kobe and Shaq didn’t care about the massive media attention they were getting. They moved on quickly from the past. All those alley-oops, championships, and great times were a chapter in their lives that was closed. Kobe and Shaq’s focus was on their team. Those Heat vs Lakers games had no special value.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think it’s a story,” Bryant said. “The guy’s in Miami. Who the hell cares anymore? You know what I mean? He’s down there doing his thing, we’re doing our thing here. It’s a basketball game.”<\/p>\n

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“I don’t know what’s going to happen and I don’t care,” Shaquille O’Neal said. “It is one of 82. I don’t look at it as a do-or-die game to me. It doesn’t mean anything.”<\/p>\n

Related: “I asked Phil, ‘Are you getting back into the game?'” – Scottie Pippen said he tried to team up with Shaq and Kobe after failed Houston stint<\/a><\/p>\n

Friends again<\/p>\n

It took a while before Bryant and O’Neal saw eye-to-eye. The two stars became too busy with other parts of their professional lives. Fortunately, they reached a level of maturity that prompted them to squash their beef once and for all.<\/p>\n

A little nudge from NBA icon Bill Russell also helped. Shaq claimed the Boston Celtics icon told him to make the first move.<\/p>\n

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“I had orders from the great Bill Russell,” O’Neal said<\/a>. “Me and him were talking in Seattle the other day, and he was telling me how rivalries should be. I asked him if he ever disliked anybody he played against, and he told me, ‘No, never,’ and he told that I should shake Kobe Bryant’s hand and let bygones be bygones and bury the hatchet.”<\/p>\n

Kobe and Shaq reconnected in the most epic way possible: a televised 1-on-1 interview where they talked about life and basketball. Seeing arguably the greatest duo in NBA history laughing and talking about their past like brothers was a treat for fans. It was as if the two never really hated each other and simply needed time apart.<\/p>\n

Related: Adam Silver reflects on the fading presence of NBA dynasties: “I\u2019m sure Sam Presti isn\u2019t ready to hear that”<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network<\/a> on Jul 17, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“He should just acknowledge Kobe” – Phil Jackson didn’t like how Shaq ignored Kobe during their Heat vs.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,75,144,32598,1536,150,295,189,3881,6,3838,2390,1302],"class_list":{"0":"post-178657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-heat","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston-celtics","10":"tag-heat","11":"tag-kobe-and-shaq","12":"tag-kobe-bryant","13":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","14":"tag-miami","15":"tag-miami-heat","16":"tag-miamiheat","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-phil-jackson","19":"tag-shaq","20":"tag-shaquille-oneal"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114872939013756442","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}